There is a difference of opinion between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland camps about selection of the eight players from a 10-man team for each of the four sessions of play in the Walker Cup.

American captain Buddy Marucci has told his team that "unless there is some really unusual occurrence we would try to play everybody three times and two players four times."

GB&I captain Colin Dalgleish was not prepared to go that far. "I certainly don't have a policy of playing everyone three times. I certainly have a policy of wherever it's possible everybody should play. You would like to have all of your players play the first day barring some surprise factor.

"In terms of who plays the next day, it's sort of dependent on what happens the first day, but it's pretty tough to say that someone is going to play three times minimum."

The American attitude is consensual. "Our approach will be a team approach," says Marucci. "We will discuss the line-up together. You know this isn't my team, it's their team. Everyone has a say in what we are going to do. We have already begun discussions pretty extensively on what we are going to try to do on Saturday, and how we will react to what happens on Saturday and we will continue to do that."

"So the players that will not be playing in any of the matches will be part of the decision to be in that position. At the end of the day I will have to make the call, but frankly it will not be without the insight of all of the players.

"If we had 10 individuals it would be a lot tougher, but we have a bunch of players that pretty much are in sync. So I'm happy about that. That's made it easier for me."

Dalgleish believes his role is to make sure that the players are as prepared as they possibly can be. "Keeping them motivated, that's not something I have to worry about because they are all motivated to get the trophy back," he said.

"I just have to make sure the arrangements to get here allow for that team spirit to be there and that everything should be as smooth as it possibly can be. Hopefully we've got to that stage now. We just want to make sure they have every opportunity and have thought of all the possibilities of the golf course, and leave it to them to make up their mind how they are going to play the course and how they are going to tackle it. I just want to get them on that first tee ready and raring to go and take it from there."

"At the end of the day, it's up to the guys on the golf course to do it, not me."